Problem Validation Workshop: Food Systems — Kigali
Most ventures fail because they solve a problem nobody needed solved. This session is about avoiding that.
Jasiri is bringing together 30 people in Kigali for a working day on the problems that keep showing up across food systems. This is a working session, not a conference. You will spend most of the day doing the work rather than listening to it.
Who you will hear from
Maxime Manzi, Founder of Green Wonder (Jarama Farm), and Jansen Durham, Co-founder of Fixa.
Both will talk about how they validated the problems they are building around. How they knew what was real, what they got wrong along the way, and what they tested before committing.
Who this is for
You work in food systems, in production, processing, logistics, finance, data, distribution, or anywhere along the value chain. You are already building, or seriously considering what to build next. You have real depth in your field and the experience to know which problems are worth taking seriously.
How the day works
The day opens with the methods we use to validate problems. How to tell a real problem from a stated one, how to test it against evidence rather than opinion, and how to read the signal that says stop.
Then you apply it. You will work in a breakout group across pre-farm, on-farm or post-farm, based on where your experience sits. Together you will unpack the problems that keep surfacing across that part of the value chain, pressure-test which ones are real, and distinguish the problems worth building a venture around from those that only appear promising. Each group presents back to the room, where the rest of the participants challenge the thinking.
What you leave with
A clear view of which problems are worth testing properly. A practical method you can apply to any problem you take on next. Direct connections to operators and specialists across your part of the value chain.
Registration
Places are limited to 30 and registrations are reviewed and confirmed individually. Register your interest here and we will be in touch. The venue will be shared with confirmed participants.
About Jasiri
Jasiri Talent Investor is a programme of Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies. We back exceptional people before they have an idea and support them through 13 months of building a venture, from co-founder formation through to launch. Since 2021 we have worked with 277 people who have started 116 companies across Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda. Our next cohort is focused on food systems.
Applications for Cohort 9 are open at www.jasiri.org and close 12 October 2026.
Two fixes beyond the speakers. The version you pasted said Nairobi rather than Kigali. And I replaced the masterclass wording with the phrasing you settled on for the LinkedIn captions, since it was still reading like a class here.